A return home
Pal get's back home after about a week.
He text's Wren around 11 pm.
"Should be getting back home in the morning. Catching a late flight. Will need to do laundry pretty badly."
"Looking forward to seeing you again! But like. You don't need to see me immediately or anything. Know you have your own life."
"But. Looking forward to seeing you."
Unifel —
Me too! I'll make my way over. Safe flight.
RNG —
Pal grins down at his phone.
He considers saying something else.
Instead he makes his way to the airport, boards his flight, and sleeps the full length of the flight.
He gets home at around 2 am. He is wearing a white tshirt that fits his frame tightly, and black sweatpants. New clothes. They don't looks expensive. Or nice.
He does his best to enter the apartment quietly
Unifel —
Wren isn't at the door, but that's usual.
RNG —
Pal opens and closes the door quietly.
He knows the Wren doesn't sleep.
But it's still good to be quiet just in case.
Pal makes his way to his bathroom, the one with the laundry built in.
Unifel —
He can hear a quiet humming coming from it as he gets closer. Movement.
RNG —
He pauses.
"Hey sunshine! I'm home. Going to start a load, and take a shower. Then we can catch up maybe?"
Unifel —
How loud does he say that?
RNG —
At a normal volume. He doesn't want to accidentally wake a neighbor
Unifel —
Cute! He's so good.
There's no response.
RNG —
Pal shrugs. He heads into the bathroom.
Unifel —
Wren is in there, with headphones on, humming as she pulls clothes out of the dryer. She was... She did Pal's laundry.
RNG —
Pal blinks several times.
He puts his bag down.
For a moment he considers hugging her from behind. Picking her up, kissing her neck....
Then the thinks about his instinctive responses to surprises.
Don't really want to need to fix my nose tonight.
He moves into the room, getting into Wren's line of sight.
He looks at her with a soft look.
Wren smiles brightly, and pulls off her headphones.
"Hey! I wanted you to be able to get some rest, so I took care of the laundry for you. How'd it go?"
RNG —
Pal shrugs. (fond. protective.)
"It was fine. I was mostly worried about the clothes I brought with me though." (True)
Pal grins.
"You are so sweet. Can I kiss you?" (Happy. Fond. Relieved)
Unifel —
"Please!"
She leans forward, one of her fangs poking out between her smile as she closes her eyes.
Image
RNG —
Pal leans forward and kisses her, lightly holding Wren's waist as he pulls her closer.
He smells sweaty, and a bit dirty. Long job. His mouth is still a little too minty.
He pulls back. (blissful. happy. safe)
"I need to shower. Also I probably need to start a load. Got a lot of blood on my clothes. Then yes. Bed time."
Unifel —
She makes a quiet mmmm sound, content in the kiss.
Then she smiles mischievously.
"Do you... need any help? With relaxing? And cleaning up?"
RNG —
Pal blinks. (Surprised)
Then grins. (Happy, a little aroused. Regret)
"I am uh.... probably not in the shape for... activities. But... we can cuddle. Shower together if you want."
Pal starts un packing his back. In a collection of large ziplock bags, he has several piece of clothing. The clothes he left in, and most of Moonstone's outfit.
It has several huge holes in it, and is covered in blood.
As he unzips and throws the clothes in the washer (Carefully detaching the moonstones from Moonstone's uniform), the room is filled with the smell of blood.
Unifel —
Wren's breath catches, and she licks her lips.
"Oh my god."
Unifel —
Image
RNG —
Pal blinks. (A slight guilt. embarrassed)
"Oh! Yeah, I almost got cut in half."
He slides his shirt off. Wren can see 3 lines of black outlining large swaths of Pal's skin. With how Pal's healing works, you know that he probably lost most of his guts. or Her guts.
And was probably impaled.
He tosses the shirt in the washer.
Unifel —
Her face looks at the scars.
"You what?"
RNG —
Pal nods. (Embarrassed)
"Yeah, there were like. These swords, and people were good with them, and they cut me a lot. I didn't like... go down or anything. But yeah, I got cut pretty bad. "
Pal grins sheepishly.
"Flew back after. I could have had people help, but one of them was a kid, and I kind of... Thought I could handle it?"
"Anyway, mostly was solved after that. I also had a whole aerial battle. That was cool. But yeah, was laid out after it for a bit."
Pal rubs the back of his head, and keeps working on taking off the moonstones. (Embarrassed, a little worried and guilty)
"But I'm fine now! I can recover pretty quick nowadays."
Wren gently puts a cold hand on his shoulder.
"You need to remember you matter too. Was this kid a contractor? You need to let your team help you. You need to-"
She pauses. Her voice steady, she continues after a moment.
"You need to come home to me."
RNG —
(intense guilt)
"I.... Yeah. I will."
Pal moves his hands up to hold Wren's hand.
"I promise. I'll come home...."
He leans down and presses his forehead to Wren's
Unifel —
She holds him, tightly.
"Speaking of coming home, I... Will you move in with me?"
RNG —
(Surprise. Mirth)
"Oh? Like Seattle?"
Pal pauses. (Contemplative. Loved. Fond. Protective)
"Oh, that would be a lot closer to Ems anyway. And since I can't really work much anymore... yeah, that sounds great."
Unifel —
She lights up, and squeezes even tighter.
"Okay! That's great! Let me get you cleaned up, and we'll set it up."
She lets go and starts helping with the clothes.
"You take a seat, my light. Rest."
RNG —
Pal kisses Wren's forehead, then her nose, before putting a light kiss on her lips.
"You are so good to me."
Then he goes and takes a shower. A long shower.